File photo of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma

A strong message on custodial deaths from an Indian Court: Extra-judicial Actions Cannot be Celebrated

The effect of the award of a death sentence to as many as nine policemen in one go can be electrifying in the way it can jolt a system that has resisted all reform. The signals this verdict sends out will hopefully serve to warn law enforcers across the county that the law will catch up with them too and make them pay a heavy price for crossing boundaries. Society has to begin seeing custodial deaths and their attendant staged killings, called as "fake encounters", and extra judicial killings as cold-blooded murders for which the nation must have zero tolerance.

Shifting Perceptions in a Multipolar World

In a world moving toward multipolarity, information itself has become contested terrain. Events are no longer just events; they are immediately absorbed into competing narratives. The same incident is read differently depending on where one stands and what one is inclined to believe. 

Geopolitical Uncertainties and the International Student:Need for Transformational Shift in Thinking for Education Providers

For parents of Indian and South Asian students, who are risk-averse, going to the US for an overseas education was fraught with too many imponderables. It was better to travel to a more reliable destination, such as, Australia. Germany and Ireland also featured as potential destinations but in terms of scale, Australia was the preferred beneficiary.

Ghost Murmur: How AI Rescued a Lost US Pilot in the Iran War

The Ghost Murmur AI rescue of a U.S. pilot in Iran is an epochal event in the history of warfare. It shows how new technologies can be used to go around old restrictions and can allow carrying out operations that were not possible a decade ago.

More on Perspective

Recalling a 'black chapter' in Punjab's history: Flawed decision-making that proved costly for India

The book, in many ways, is the last word on the tragic and defining years of Punjab’s turmoil that took a large number of lives.

Unique military-industry cooperation boosting Indian Navy’s warship production

There are currently 41 ships and submarines under construction, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards, while in-principle approval is there from the Defence Ministry for 47 ships to be built in India.

Is war an inevitability? How prepared should India be?

The author’s prognosis of a major contestation in the not-so-distant future is situated in the South China Sea. The compelling logic portends China’s proclivity to fight one or possibly two major wars before 2035, either with Taiwan or India before the major US-China war.

Can a 'self-reliant' India edge out Vietnam as an alternative to China for supply chain manufacturing?

Riding the global strategic shift in manufacturing, India is on the cusp of attractive large-scale domestic and foreign investors by incentivizing supply chain manufacturing

A blueprint for a developed India

It would be appropriate to design a comprehensive plan for India to create 10,000 unicorns in the next 25 years and with a few hundred becoming decacorns - enterprises with a valuation of over $10 billion. These enterprises alone could add over $12 trillion to India’s GDP.

South Asian solidarity and support for flood-devastated Pakistan: Calling South Asian nations to come together for flood relief and rehabilitation in the neighbourhood

It is important to note that India has sufficient food stocks to be able to help the affected people in flood-ridden Pakistan. There is an urgent need to ease border restrictions at least to the levels of 2009 to provide easy access to food and relief materials

Checking anti-India activity in Assam and Northeast India

While the Assam government must sustain its present moves against radicalisation, New Delhi must be firm in ensuring that insidious attempts/activities by anti-Indian elements/groups are neutralised effectively in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and some other states

The world's fifth largest economy: A reality check

So, the assessment for the fifth largest economy is that this is a slowing phase, as growth drivers need to pick up along with investor sentiment

Developing unity in diversity: A prescription to unite India culturally

Efforts should be made to translate the literary heritage of each state and union territory into each of the national languages of India. This will create a whole new education, employment and business ecosystem in the publishing and media industries, sensitising each Indian to the national and civilisational heritage they inherited and building a sense of unity and common purpose.

Sealing the Ozone Hole: Lessons from the Montreal Protocol

The progress of the Montreal Protocol till now is, however, not without hiccups and bumps

INS Vikrant in its new incarnation marks India as a major warship-building nation

 

Both these carriers, which are floating cities with massive flying and firepower, still do not adequately fulfill India’s maritime force requirement. With two vast seaboards and the Indian Ocean region and two rogue adversarial nations, the considered assessment by old-salt veterans is that even three aircraft carriers, meaning two on the sea and one in refit, are not enough

Making India a developed nation by 2047: An agenda for the nation

The other pillars of democracy, the judiciary and media, must remain steadfastly independent and impartial guardians of the Constitution. The people still repose their greatest faith in them to protect their rights and uphold their aspirations

Importing wheat for India’s food security is an imperative

Thus, more than one third of the world’s hungry and undernourished people are in India, which is alarming and embarrassing, if not shameful. India’s rank in the global hunger index also (GHI) has dropped to 101 out of 116 countries

Rupee convertibility: Can it make the Indian currency stronger?

Days are ahead when the rupee will tend to become fully convertible. Full convertibility means fully capital account convertibility in the balance of payment. It opens the market for foreign investors, businessmen and trade partners

Is Bangladesh heading for stagflation?

Bangladesh is going through a tough economic situation; the government’s two largest sources of foreign currency revenues are the export of readymade garment products and remittances from overseas. Remittances are already suffering